


Beauty in Darkness

by Chocolatequeen



Series: Being To Timelessness [11]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Cold Weather, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Woman Wept (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27949544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolatequeen/pseuds/Chocolatequeen
Summary: When the Doctor takes Rose to Woman Wept, she helps him see understand that sometimes, beautiful things can come out of darkness.
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Being To Timelessness [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/252067
Comments: 19
Kudos: 122
Collections: 31 Days of Ficmas 2020





	Beauty in Darkness

_“Remember the first time we came here?” Rose murmured, reaching for his hand and lacing their fingers together. “Right after my dad died?”_

_The Doctor nodded, scraping his stubbled jaw against her cheek._

_[…]_

_When Rose closed her eyes, she could still hear the Doctor’s voice as he told her the story of Woman Wept, his Northern accent getting stronger with his distress._

_“I wished so much that I could do something to make you feel better. I’d been feeling so guilty over my mistake, and you brought me here to put it in perspective. And I—”_

_“Did what you always do,” the Doctor interrupted. “You pointed out the beauty, when I had been focused on the darkness.”_

_~Forever and Never Apart, chapter 18_

Rose played with a loose thread on the jump seat while the Doctor circled the console, setting the coordinates for their next trip. At least… She snuck a glance at him through her eyelashes. She _hoped_ he was taking them someplace.

The little voice in the back of her head told her she’d deserve it if the Doctor took her home. She’d caused a massive disaster the day before when she’d tried to save her dad’s life. She wouldn’t blame the Doctor if he didn’t trust her to travel with him anymore.

“All right!”

The Doctor’s bright voice cut into Rose’s self-recriminations, nearly making her jump out of her skin. She looked up at him, his hand on the dematerialisation lever.

His smile was softer than usual, more serious maybe, but at least he wasn’t glaring at her. She gave him a weak smile in reply, and the light in his eyes warmed.

“I want to show you something, Rose,” he said, his voice soft.

“All righ’,” she said hesitantly. That didn’t _sound_ like he was taking her home.

He threw the lever, then swung around and grabbed something off the strut. “You’ll want to wear this,” he told her as he tossed it to her.

Rose caught it and shook it out. Her eyebrows went up a little as she slid into the heavy winter coat. Now she was pretty sure they weren’t going to London. It never got cold enough back home for a coat like this.

“All right then, where are we going?” she asked as she joined him by the console.

The ship landed, more softly than she ever remembered before. Rose looked at the still time rotor, then at the door. “Are we actually here?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Yes, my doubting companion. Come on.”

Rose took his hand and let him lead her up the ramp. When he pulled open the door, a gust of frigid wind blew inside. She was immediately grateful for the heavy coat he’d given her.

It looked like they’d landed at dawn or dusk, and it took Rose’s eyes a moment to adjust to the low light. But when they did, she sucked in a breath; they were standing on the edge of a sea of frozen waves.

“Where are we?” she whispered. There was a hush over the surface of the planet that she didn’t want to break.

“This is called Woman Wept,” the Doctor replied, his voice just as quiet.

“Why is it called that?”

“Because when you look at the planet from orbit, the single continent looks like a woman weeping.”

The Doctor stared out at the frozen waves. He had come here twice during the Time War. The first time, he’d been hunting for the mysterious Cult of Skaro. He’d never found them, but at this point, he knew they must be dead.

The quiet beauty of the planet had struck him, and years later, when he’d needed a moment to rest and recharge, he’d set the TARDIS coordinates for Woman Wept once again. The disaster he’d seen here had pushed him one step closer to the Moment when he had ended it all.

“Is that… is that an ocean?” Rose asked.

The Doctor tried not to stiffen, but when Rose started to pull her hand away, he knew he hadn’t succeeded. He tightened his grip on her and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, it was,” he said, his voice hoarser than usual. “It was a gorgeous ocean, before… before the Time War.” He laughed bitterly. “That war just sucked all the life and beauty out of everything.”

“What happened?” Rose asked, her voice whisper soft.

“Remember how I told you that in the War, whole planets went missing?” The Doctor closed his eyes, but he could still feel the loss of the star. “Well, it wasn’t just planets. Even stars weren’t safe from the way the war ravaged all of time and space.”

The Doctor cleared his throat. “When I came back the second time, the star was gone. It had been taken, as if it had never existed. And in the absence of any heat, the sea froze in an instant.”

Guilt threatened to overtake the Doctor again. Sometimes he felt guilty for pushing the button, but sometimes, like today, he felt guilty for not doing it sooner. How many other worlds might still exist if he hadn’t been so bloody caught up on doing what was right?

Rose reached out her hand and touched the icy wave on her left. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

The Doctor started. “It’s a planet frozen in a cataclysmic disaster,” he countered.

She looked up at him. “Yeah, but look at it, Doctor. It’s like a gallery of ice sculptures.”

The Doctor shook his head. As he did so, he caught sight of one of the waves. But this time, he saw the swirl of motion caught in the ice, the way the tip of the wave curled down into the finest of icicles.

“See?”

He looked down at Rose, taking in the smile on her face. “Yeah, I suppose.”

A gust of wind whistled through the icy waves, and Rose scooted closer to him, seeking shelter from the cold. The Doctor’s hearts raced as he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close.

The faint light of the nearby stars was all they had to see by. But whereas just ten minutes ago he had only seen the darkness, Rose had taken his hand and gently pointed out the beauty. The beauty in sorrow, the incredible majesty of this tragedy.

He had fallen in love with Rose nearly at first sight. He’d realised it when the Dalek had pointed it out.

But today… He closed his eyes and listened to her single human heart beating in her chest. The sound pieced back together one part of his own battered hearts.

Timelines teased him, but the Doctor refused to look. Instead, he simply begged the universe to be kind to him for once.

_Please, don’t ever take her from me._

Even though he didn’t look, one word whispered back across time.

_Forever._


End file.
